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Reprinted  from  the  EDUCATIONAL  Review,  New  York,  Januar^SL  1562.     q.^ 

Copyright,  1902,  by  Educational  Review  Publishing  Co. 

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EDUCATION  AND  EVOLUTION 

It  is  obviously  true,  as  Compayre  has  said,  that  "  decisive 
changes  in  human  opinion — political,  religious,  or  scientific — 
involve  corresponding  changes  in  the  purpMDse  and  methods  of 
education."  It  was,  therefore,  to  be  expected  that  the  most 
decisive  change  in  modern  thought,  namely,  the  change  effected 
by  the  biological  theory  of  development  presented  by  Darwin, 
in  1859,  would  involve  revolutionary  changes  in  the  field  of 
education.  Such  expectation,  however,  if  it  has  been  cher- 
ished, can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  fulfilled.  Resultant 
effects  of  the  theory  of  evolution  upon  education  are,  to  be  sure, 
numerous  and  important,  but  they  are  almost  inconsiderable  in 
comparison  with  the  changes  wrought  by  the  same  theory  in 
the  biological  sciences.  Education:.!  doctrines  have  been 
almost  as  impervious  to  the  stream  of  evolutionary  thought  as 
the  incrusted  creeds  of  theology. 

If  we  inquire  after  the  cause  of  this  phenomenon,  we  have 
not  far  to  seek.  In  education,  as  in  theology,  it  is  the  con- 
\  servative  influence  of  authority.  Modern  educational  doc- 
trines are  to  a  considerable  extent  an  inheritance  from  the  pre- 
evolutionary  epoch  of  German,  French,  and  English  philos- 
ophy. Our  educational  thinkers  have  been  chiefly  employed  in 
the  interpretation,  the  elaboration,  and  the  application  of  the 
doctrines  of  Bacon,  Locke,  Comenius,  Rousseau,  Basedow, 
Pestalozzi,  Froebel,  and  Herbart,  all  of  whom  lived  and  died 
before  Darwin's  immortal  work  on  the  origin  of  species  was 
published.  Herbart,  for  instance,  the  latest  of  those  just 
named,  and  whose  system  of  education  has  awakened  so  much 
interest  and  is  now  attracting  so'  much  attention,  died  in  1841, 
eighteen  years  before  the  theory  of  natural  selection  was  clearly 

263400 


Education  and  evolution  ^  6i 

propounded/  The  consevative  influence  of  these  early  edu- 
cationists upon  educational  theory  has  been  similar  to  that 
of  the  Christian  Fathers  upon  theology.  It  has  tended  to 
turn  back  the  tide  of  evolutionary  thought  from  the  field  of 
education. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  interpret  what  has  just  been  said  as 
indicating  lack  of  reverence  for  the  great  men  whose  educa- 
tional theories  we  have  inherited,  or  failure  to  recognize  the 
inestimable  value  of  their  teachings.  It  would  be  presump- 
tion, as  well  as  ingratitude,  to  intimate  that  the  educational 
world  attaches  undue  importance  to  the  doctrines  of  such  edu- 
cators as  Herbart,  Froebel,  or  Pestalozzi.  No  such  thought 
is  in  mind.  What  I  do  assert  is  that  allowance  should  be  made 
for  the  fact  that  the  thought  of  these  men,  and  the  other 
founders  of  modern  educational  philosophy,  was  uninfluenced 
by  the  theory  of  organic  evolution,  and  should  be  corrected  in 
the  light  of  it.  Reverence  for  the  educational  Fathers  does 
not  demand  that  we  overlook  their  limitations.  Their  doc- 
trines, like  those  of  their  contemporaries,  must  be  informed 
with  the  newer  thought.  Evolutionary  ideas  must  be  given 
free  course,  in  education  as  in  biology.  The  change  they  are 
destined  to  produce  in  the  purpose  and  methods  of  education 
has  only  been  begun.  Educational  philosophy  will  yet  be  re- 
written from  the  standpoint  of  evolution. 

There  are  many  teachers,  and  even  some  writers  on  the  sub- 
ject of  education,  who  do  not  accept  the  evolutionary  hy- 
pothesis. It  is  only  an  hypothesis,  they  say,  and,  as  for  them- 
selves, they  mean  to  await  demonstrative  evidence  before  ac- 
cepting it.  This  is  a  strange  position  to  assume.  The 
h)rpothesis-rejecting  attitude  is  supposed  by  some  to  manifest 
I  a  judicial  habit  of  mind,  but  it  more  frequently  betrays  indif- 
ference to  the  questions  at  is^e.  No  one  can  think  long  on 
the  subject  of  how  the  world,  or  any  part  of  it,  became  what  it 
is,  without  accepting  some  kind  of  hypothesis.     Evolution  has 

'  Horace  Mann  died  in  185Q,  the  same  year  in  which  Darwin's  book  appeared. 
Rosenkranz's  Philosophy  of  education,  altho  it  originally  appeared  in  1848,  is  still 
a  standard  text-book  in  our  educational  libraries.  Other  facts  illustrating  the  idea 
of  the  text  will  suggest  themselves  to  the  reader. 


62  EdMcational  Review  [January 

thus  far  proven  to  be  the  most  rational  explanation.  No 
failure  has  yet  been  recorded  against  it.  No  other  conception 
or  theory  of  the  universe  has  any  standing  in  the  court  of 
science.  It  is  the  only  theory  that  has  any  scientific  evidence 
in  its  favor.  Rejection  of  it  as  a  working  hypothesis  is  incon- 
sistent with  an  eager  desire  for  the  truth. 

Evolution,  however,  is  something  more  than  a  working  hy- 
pothesis. Long  ago  Professor  Huxley  declared  that  "  the  evo- 
tion  of  many  existing  forms  of  animal  life  from  their  prede- 
cessors is  no  longer  an  hypothesis,  but  an  historical  fact."  " 
Other  competent  students  of  nature  have  asserted  positively 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  descent  of  multicellular  animals  from 
unicellular,  of  amphibious  animals  from  fishes,  of  birds  from 
reptiles,  of  the  placental  mammalia  from  the  marsupials,  and  of 
man  from  some  lower  apelike  form  rests  upon  an  incon- 
trovertible basis  of  fact.  "  The  general  theory  of  descent," 
says  Haeckel,  "  claims  full  and  permanent  value,  because  it  is 
inductively  based  on  the  whole  range  of  common  biological 
phenomena  and  on  th^ir  internal  causal  connection."  ^ 

The  evidence  supporting  the  conclusion  just  expressed  can- 
not even  be  touched  upon  here.  Readers  who  may  happen  to 
be  unfamiHar  with  this  evidence  can  only  be  referred  to  the 
books  which  present  it  in  detail.*  To  those  who  are  still 
awaiting  the  discovery  of  "  the  missing  link,"  or  the  actual 
observation  of  the  transmutation  of  one  existing  species  into 
another,  before  admitting  their  belief  in  the  theory,  I  commend 
Professor  Huxley's  chapter  on  ''  The  demonstrative  evidence 
of  evolution."  ^  ''  An  inductive  hypothesis,"  said  Professor 
Huxley,  *'  is  said  to  be  demonstrated  when  the  facts  are  shown 
to  be  in  entire  accordance  with  it.  If  that  is  not  scientific 
proof,  there  are  no  merely  inductive  conclusions  which  can  be 
said  to  be  proved.     And  the  doctrine  of  evolution,   at  the 

^  EncyclopcBdia  Britannica,  article  on  "  Evolution." 
'  Freedom  in  science  and  teaching,  p.  13. 

*  Of  the  numerous  books  on  the  subject  of  evolution  the  following  may  be 
recommended  to  those  who  have  not  read  upon  the  subject:  Darwin's  C>r(?z«  of 
species,  and  his  Descent  of  man  ;  Romanes's  Darwin  and  after  Darwin,  vol.  i, 
and   Drummond's  Ascent  of  ?nan. 

*  See  Lectures  on  evolution.  No.  3. 


1902]  Education  and  evolution  63 

present  time,  rests  upon  exactly  as  secure  a  foundation  as  the 
Copernican  theory  of  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  did 
at  the  time  of  its  promulgation.  Its  logical  basis  is  precisely 
of  the  same  character — the  coincidence  of  the  observed  facts 
with  theoretical  requirements."  ^  So  far  as  the  present  dis- 
cussion of  education  and  evolution  is  concerned,  the  theory  of 
evolution,  with  all  its  legitimate  implications,  is  accepted  by 
the  writer  as  the  most  rational  world  hypothesis  thus  far  con- 
ceived. The  evidence  ;in  support  of  it  is  regarded  as  over- 
whelming and  convincing. 

Regarding  evolutioii,  then,  as  the  correct  explanation  of  the 
universe,  our  present  purpose  is  to  show  the  place  of  education 
in  the  general  evolutionary  process,  and  its  relation  to  organic 
evolution  as  a  whole.  Let  us  consider  first  the  place  of  educa- 
tion in  the  cosmic  process. 

*'  The  general  doctrine  of  development,"  says  Professor 
Haeckel,  *' the  pro-genesis  theory  or  evolution-hypothesis  (in 
the  widest  sense,  as  a  comprehensive  philosophic  view  of  the 
universe)  assumes  that  a  vast,  uniform,  uninterrupted,  and 
eternal  process  of  development  obtains  thruout  all  nature;  and 
that  all  natural  phenomena  without  exception,  from  the  motion 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  the  fall  of  the  rolling  stone  to  the 
growth  of  plants  and  the  consciousness  of  men,  obey  one  and 
the  same  law  of  causation." 

This  general  theory  of  the  world  process  is,  of  course,  all- 
inclusive.  It  applies  to  inorganic,  organic,  and  superorganic 
phenomena.  There  is  no  break  in  it.  Some  who  accept  it  in  a 
general  way  think  it  does  not  apply  to  the  origin  of  life  and 
mind,  or  to  the  development  of  the  spiritual  faculties.  Such  a 
view,  however,  is  inconsistent  with  a  belief  in  the  theory  of 
evolution.  It  may  be  that  no  experimental  evidence  in  regard 
to  the  origination  of  life,  for  instance,  will  ever  be  provided. 
And  yet,  by  an  act  of  scientific  faith,  we  conclude  that  the 
organic  world  has  evolved  naturally  from  the  inorganic. 
"  Biologists  in  general,"  says  Mr.  Spencer,  '*  agree  that,  in  the 
present  state  of  the  world,  no  such  thing  happens  as  the  rise  of 
a  living  creature  out  of  non-living  matter.     They  do  not  deny, 

•  Op.  cit.,  p.  35. 


64  Educational  Review  [January 

however,  that  at  a  recent  period  in  the  past,  when  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  earth's  crust  was  much  higher  than  at  present,  and 
other  physical  conditions  were  unlike  those  now,  inorganic 
matter,  thru  successive  complications,  gave  origin  to  organic 
matter.  So  many  substances  once  supposed  to  belong  exclus- 
ively to  living  bodies  have  now  been  formed  artificially,  that 
men  of  science  scarcely  question  the  conclusion  that  there  are 
conditions  under  which,  by  yet  another  step  of  composition, 
quaternary  compounds  of  lower  types  pass  into  those  of  highest 
types.  That  there  once  took  place  gradual  divergence  of  the 
organic  from  the  inorganic  is,  indeed,  a  necessary  implication 
of  the  hypothesis  of  evolution,  taken  as  a  whole."  Similar  ex- 
pressions might  be  quoted  from  Professor  Huxley  and  other 
competent  authorities. 

The  evolutionary  process,  then,  is  one  and  continuous. 
Nature  and  art,  organic,  psychic,  and  social  evolution,  and  con- 
sequently education,  are  all  embraced  in  its  universal  sweep. 

Education,  however,  deals  only  with  sentient  beings.  It, 
therefore,  belongs  within  that  part  of  the  cosmic  process  known 
primarily  as  organic  evolution.  We  may,  therefore,  dismiss 
the  general  conception  of  the  world  process,  and  confine  our 
attention  to  the  evolution  of  organic  beings. 

Organic  evolution,  as  almost  everyone  must  know,  is  the 
description  of  that  series  of  morphological  and  psychological 
changes  which  organic  beings  have  undergone  since  the  ap- 
pearance on  this  planet  of  living  matter.  Psychic  and  social 
evolution  are  its  concomitants.  Man,  no  less  than  the  lower 
organisms  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  must  be 
considered  as  its  product.  The  theory  applicable  to  this  de- 
partment of  evolution  mg^  be  briefly  presented  by  introducing 
here  a  passage  from  Romanes'  Scientific  evidence  of  organic 
evolution. 

It  is  a  matter  of  observable  fact  [says  Professor  Romanes]  that  all  plants 
and  animals  are  perpetually  engaged  in  what  Mr.  Darwin  calls  a  "struggle 
for  existence."  That  is  to  say,  in  every  generation  of  every  species  a  great 
many  more  individuals  are  born  than  can  possibly  survive;  so  that  there  is 
in  consequence  a  perpetual  battle  for  life  going  on  among  all  the  constituent 
individuals  of  any  given  generation.  Now,  in  this  struggle  for  existence, 
which  individuals   will  be  victorious  and  live?     Assuredly  those  which  arc 


1902]  Education  and  evolution  65 

best  fitted  to  live;  the  weakest  and  the  least  fitted  to  live  will  succumb  and 
die,  while  the  strongest  and  the  best  fitted  to  live  will  be  triumphant  and 
survive.  Now  it  is  this  "  survival  of  the  fittest "  that  Mr.  Darwin  calls 
"  natural  selection."  Nature,  so  to  speak,  selects  the  best  individuals  out 
of  each  generation  to  live.  And  not  only  so,  but  as  these  favored  indi- 
viduals transmit  their  favorable  qualities  to  their  offspring,  according  to  the 
fixed  laws  of  heredity,  it  follows  that  the  individuals  composing  each  suc- 
cessive generation  have  a  general  tendency  to  be  better  suited  to  their  sur- 
roundings than  were  their  forefathers.  And  this  follows,  not  merely  be- 
cause in  every  generation  it  is  only  the  flower  of  the  race  that  is  allowed 
to  breed,  but  also  because,  if  in  any  generation  some  new  and  beneficial 
qualities  happen  to  appear  as  slight  variations  from  the  ancestral  type,  these 
will  be  seized  upon  by  natural  selection  and  added,  by  transmission  in  sub- 
sequent generations,  to  the  previously  existing  type.  Thus  the  best  idea  of 
the  whole  process  will  be  gained  by  comparing  it  with  the  closely  analogous 
process  whereby  gardeners  and  cattle-breeders  create  their  wonderful  pro- 
ductions; for  just  as  these  men,  by  always  selecting  their  best  individuals  to 
breed  from,  slowly,  but  continuously,  improve  their  stock,  so  Nature,  by  a 
similar  process  of  selection,  slowly,  but  continuously,  makes  the  various 
species  of  plants  and  animals  better  and  better  suited  to  the  external  con 
ditions  of  their  life. 

Now,  if  this  process  of  continuously  adapting  organisms  to  their  environ- 
ment takes  place  in  Nature  at  all,  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should  set  any 
limits  on  the  extent  to  which  it  is  able  to  go,  up  to  the  point  at  which  a 
complete  and  perfect  adaptation  is  achieved.  Therefore  we  might  suppose 
that  all  species  would  attain  to  this  condition  of  perfect  adjustment  to  their 
environment,  and  there  remain  fixed.  And  so  undoubtedly^l^would,  if 
the  environment  were  itself  unchanging.  But  forasmuch  as  tl^^^Bronment 
— or  the  sum  total  of  the  external  conditions  of  life — of  almos^^^y  organic 
type  alters  more  or  less  from  century  to  century  (whether  from  astronomical, 
geological,  and  geographical  changes,  or  from  the  immigrations  and  emigra- 
tions of  other  species  living  on  contiguous  geographical  areas),  it  follows  that 
the  process  of  natural  selection  need  never  reach  a  terminal  phase.  And  for- 
asmuch as  natural  selection  may  thus  continue  acLJnfinitum,  slowly  to  alter 
a  specific  type  in  adaptation  to  a  gradually  changing  environment,  if  in  any 
case  the  alteration  thus  effected  is  sufficient  in  amount  to  lead  naturalists 
to  denote  the  specific  type  by  soine  different  name,  it  follows  that  natural 
selection  has  transmuted  one  specific  type  into  another.  And  so  the 
process  is  supposed  to  go  on  over  all  the  countless  species  of  plants  and 
animals  simultaneously — the  world  of  organic  types  being  thus  regarded  as 
in  a  state  of  perpetual,  tho  gradual,  flux. 

Such  is  the  theory  of  natural  selection.  It  is  the  story  of 
how  nature  has  schooled  her  children  to  a  conformity  with  the 
requirements  of  their  environment.  It  is  not  the  whole  ac- 
count, of  course,  of  organic  and  social  evolution,  but  it  has 
played  a  larger  part  in  it  than  is  usually  recognized.     In  social' 


66  Educational  Review  [January 

evolution  it  is  assisted  by  various  factors  within  the  group,  but 
it  continues  to  operate  not  only  upon  organic  structures,  but 
upon  ideas,  customs,  institutions,  and  upon  the  groups  them- 
selves. As  in  the  general  process,  so  here  in  this  part  of  it, 
there  is  no  break.  From  monads  to  man  in  his  highest  perfec- 
tion there  is  continuous  development.  In  this  fact  is  the  most 
rational  sanction  of  our  hope  for  man's  future.  "  Thoughtful 
men,"  says  Professor  Huxley,  '*  once  escaped  from  the  blind- 
ing influences  of  traditional  prejudice,  will  find  in  the  lowly 
stock  whence  man  has  sprung  the  best  evidence  of  the  splen- 
dor of  his  capacities,  and  will  discern  in  his  long  progress  thru 
the  past  a  reasonable  ground  of  faith  in  his  attainment  of  a 
nobler  future."  ^ 

Since  man,  then,  however- highly  educated  he  may  be,  is  in 
the  strictest  sense  a  lineal   descendant   of  the  protoplasmic 
organisms  which  were  the  first  inhabitants  of  this  planet,  a  -  ^ 
product  of  all  the  forces  which  have  impinged  upon  him  from  I 
the  beginning,  education  in  the  ordinary  sense  is,  as  applied  to 
the  individual,  merely  a  factor  in  organic  evolution. 

It  is  worth  while  to  notice  in  this  connection  that  the  period 
covered  by  formal  or  school  education,  as  far  as  the  entire  de- 
velopment of  the  individual  is  concerned,  is  a  mere  moment  of 
time.  Infinite  is  the  word  we  apply  to  the  inorganic  process. 
A  hundred  million  years  perhaps  would  no  more  than 
span  the  period  between  man  as  we  know  him  and  the  pri- 
mordial forms  of  life.  A  score  of  years  at  most  suffices  to  ^ 
cover  the  school  period  in  the  life  of  a  single  individual.  Edu- 
cation, then,  as  a  factor  in  individual  development  is  applied  for 
only  a  few  years  near  the  end  of  the  process  of  the  development 
of  the  individual  thru  a  series  of  ancestral  forms.  School  ex-  *( 
perience  is,  so  to  speak,  the  finishing  shop  of  nature.  How 
slight,  then,  after  all  is  the  opportunity  of  the  teacher.  Nature 
has  almost  completed  her  product  before  it  is  placed  in  his 
hands. 

The  brevity  of  the  school  period  in  comparison  with  the  ex- 
perience of  the  individual,  actual  and  inherited,  is  not,  however, 
the  most  striking  or  the  most  significant  fact  revealed  by  the 

'  Man  s  place  in  nature  (Huml)ol(U  Library  Series,  No.  41).  p.  234. 


1902]  Education  and  evolution  67 

consideration  of  education  in  the  light  of  evolution.  There 
is  another  suggestion  of  somewhat  more  practical  sig- 
nificance. 

In  the  brief  account  of  the  theory  of  natural  selection,  quoted 
from  Romanes,  the  use  of  the  words  transmutation  and  adapta- 
tion must  have  been  noticed.  Organic  evolution,  it  was  shown, 
is  the  process  of  adapting  the  organism  to  its  environment. 
Now,  after  all  that  has  been  said  about  the  difficulty  of  defining 
education,  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  asserting  that  it,  too,  is 
primarily  a  process  of  adaptation.  It  is  the  adaptation  of  the 
individual  to  a  physical  and  social  environment,  actual  or  ideal. 
The  whole  process  of  organic  evolution,  therefore,  may  be 
looked  upon  as  essentially  an  educational  process.  Education 
may  not  only  be  regarded  as  the  homologue  in  the  social  world 
of  evolution  in  the  organic  world,  but  the  meaning  of  the  term 
education  may  be  extended  to  include  the  whole  develop- 
mental process  of  the  individual  from  the  beginning  of  life. 

This  may  seem  to  be  an  unwarranted  extension  of  the  idea  of 
education.  It  is  a  common  observation,  however,  that  educa-. 
tion  does  not  begin  or  end  with  life  in  the  school.  We  speak 
of  the  education  of  the  home,  and  the  education  of  experience 
with  men  and  things.  May  we  not  also  extend  the  thought, 
so  as  to  include  prenatal  and  ancestral  experience  back  to  the 
point  which  marked  the  real  beginning  of  the  individual's  life? 
This  is  the  view  we  shall  now  take  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
the  relation  between  school  experience,  or  education  in  the  nar- 
row sense,  and  organic  evolution,  or  education  in  its  widest 
signification.  Regarding  the  education  of  the  individual,  then, 
as  having  been  begun  with  the  experience  of  his  primordial  and 
protoplasmic  ancestor  and  continued  on  down  thru  the  life  of 
the  race,  we  may  roughly  divide  the  process  into  the  education 
which  nature,  in  the  narrow  sense,  has  carried  on,  and  the 
education  which  has  been  consciously  provided  by  intelligent 
beings.  The  first  we  may  call  natural  or  genetic  education, 
and  the  second  artificial  or  telic.  The  former  is  the  spon- 
taneous education  which  the  individual  has  received  as  the 
inevitable  result  of  his  experience;  the  latter,  the  experience 
which  has  been  consciously  designed  to  produce  educational 


68  Educational  Review  [January 

results.     One  is  the  work  of  nature;  the  other  is  the  conscious 
work  of  man. 

Natural  or  genetic  education,  then,  is  the  modifying  and 
adaptive  process  which  organic  beings  have  undergone  thru 
the  operation  of  external  forces,  physical  and  social.  In  the  case 
of  an  individual  human  being  its  results  include  all  the  mor- 
phological and  psychological  changes  which  have  been  uncon- 
sciously produced  in  himself,  and  in  the  long  series  of  organic 
beings  of  which  he  is  the  last  term.  Its  results  are  summed  up 
in  him  in  the  special  characteristics  of  form  and  function  due 
to  his  heredity,  and  in  the  additional  increments  of  his  devel- 
opment which  are  to  be  set  down  as  the  unintended  educational 
results  of  his  life  experience.  This  natural  educational  process  \ 
is  specifically  recognized  by  M.  Letourneau,  who,  in  a  passage 
in  his  Ucvolution  de  ['education,  declares  that  every  human 
being,  as  well  as  every  animal,  is  the  result  of  influences  under- 
gone organically  and  mentally  by  its  ancestors.  These  influ- 
ences, he  says,  have  constituted  for  the  species  a  spontaneous 
education,  the  traces  of  which  are  profoundly  imprinted, 
organically  and  mentally.  These  influences  spring  from  dif- 
fierent  causes :  from  the  action  of  climate,  from  the  physical  en- 
vironment to  which  their  progenitors  have  had  to  accommodate 
themselves.  In  human  society  they  result  in  large  measure  > 
from  the  action  of  the  social  environment,  especially  from  the 
kind  of  life  which  from  the  remotest  times  our  ancestors  have 
been  subjected  to  or  have  themsdves  adopted. 

The  natural  education  of  man  may  be  divided  at  the  point 
where  he  enters  upon  life  in  a  social  group,  that  is,  at  he  origin 
of  society.  Prior  to  that  time  nature  was  wholly  engaged  in] 
educating  him  for  or  adapting  him  to  life  in  his  physical  en- 
vironment. This  we  may  call  natural  physical  education. 
The  process  continues,  of  course,  thru  his  life  in  the  social 
group,  but  at  the  origin  of  society  there  began  another  stage 
of  the  educational  process,  whereby  he  has  been  progressively 
adapted  to  life  in  a  social  environment.  This  phase  of  the 
educational  process  I  shall  call  natural  social  education.  Com- 
payre  expressed  the  idea  when  he  said  "  there  is  not  only  an 
education  properly  so  called,  that  which  is  given  in  schools  and 


\ 


1902  J  Education  and  evolution  69 

which  proceeds  from  the  direct  action  of  teachers,  but  there  is 
a  natural  education  which  we  receive  without  our  knowledge 
or  will,  thru  the  influence  of  the  social  environment  in  which 
we  live."  ^  This  form  of  education  results  from  the  interac- 
tion of  personalities,  from  the  influence  of  institutions,  and 
from  the  action  of  the  group  upon  its  individual  members. 
The  enormous  influence  of  these  factors  in  molding  the  form 
and  character  of  the  individual  will  not  be  questioned.  Life  is 
in  reality  a  school,  in  which  experience  is  the  teacher.  The  un- 
conscious influence  of  persons  and  institutions  ceaselessly 
operates  to  mold  human  character.  The  social  structure  is 
itself  a  significant  educational  factor.  '*  As  soon  as  a  social 
combination  acquires  some  permanence,"  says  Herbert  Spen- 
cer, ''  there  begin  actions  and  reactions  between  the  society  as 
a  whole  and  each  member  of  it,  such  that  either  affects  the 
nature  of  the  other.  The  control  exercised  by  the  aggregate 
upon  the  units  is  one  tending  ever  to  mold  their  activities  and 
sentiments  and  ideas  into  congruity  with  social  require- 
ments."® So  much  for  the  natural  physical  and  the  natural 
social  education  of  the  individual. 

We  have  vShown  that  natural  or  genetic  education,  the  first 
great  division  of  the  educational  process,  may  be  subdivided 
into  physical  and  social  education;  that  physical  education  re- 
sults in  adaptive  morphological  and  psychological  changes, 
and  that  social  education  continues  the  process  by  molding  the 
individual  into  conformity  with  social  environment.  Let  us 
now  glance  at  the  end  towards  which  the  evolution  of  indi- 
vidual forms  seems  to  be  directed,  and  the  manner  in  which 
that  end  is  approximately  reached.  In  other  words,  tho, 
scientifically  speaking,  the  terms  employed  are  unwarranted  in 
this  connection,  let  us  consider  the  aim,  means,  and  methods  of 
natural  education. 

I  say  that  the  use  of  such  terms  as  aim  and  method  in 
describing  the  process  of  nature  is  unwarranted,  for,  so  far  as 
the  vision  of  science  can  penetrate,  nature  has  neither  aim  nor 
method.     "  Method,"  says  De  Greef,  "  is  the  loftiest  process  of 

^  History  of  education,   ]ireface.   ' 

'  Principles  of  sociology,  vol.  i,  p.  12. 


JO  Educational  Review  [January 

individual  intelligence."  ^*^  Unless  we  attribute  intelligence  to 
nature,  and  we  should  step  out  of  the  boundaries  of  science  in 
doing  so,  we  are  prevented  from  speaking  of  the  aim  and 
methods  of  nature  except  in  a  figurative  sense.  Recognizing 
the  accommodation  of  language  in  the  use  of  teleological  terms 
to  describe  the  process  of  nature,  we  may  speak,  however,  as  if 
Nature  in  educating  her  children  sets  up  an  aim,  and  employs 
means  and  contrives  methods  to  realize  her  aim. 

The  aim  of  nature,  then,  in  the  development  of  organic 
beings,  that  is  to  say,  the  aim  of  natural  education,  whether 
physical  or  social,  is  that  condition  of  the  organism  at  which 
the  evolutionary  process  comes  tO'  a  standstill.  This  condi- 
tion is  usually  expressed  as  adaptation  to  the  environment. 
Whether  the  process  leads  to  the  improvement  of  the  type  or 
to  the  opposite,  the  aim  of  natural  education  is  realized  when 
adaptation  is  complete.  In  the  case  of  certain  organisms  this 
adaptation  has  practically  been  reached.  Almost  if  not  quite 
perfect  equilibrium  between  the  forces  of  the  organism  and  the 
forces  of  the  environment  has  been  established.  Some  of  the 
lower  forms  of  animal  life  seem  to  have  undergone  little  or  no 
change  since  a  very  early  geological  epoch.  In  this  respect 
man  himself  has  almost  reached  a  stationary  state.  We  have 
neither  historical  nor  paleontological  evidence  that  his  form 
has  undergone  any  marked  changes  since  the  beginning  of 
society.  Except  in  his  improved  brain  structure  he  has  pre- 
served the  type  prevalent  in  the  eocene  ej>och.  The  fossil 
human  remains  of  Spy,  Neanderthal,  Engis,  Furfooz,  and 
Java  indicate  some  differences  in  form  from  the  man  of  to-day, 
but  they  are  not  sufficient,  according  to  some  authorities,  to 
warrant  the  classification  of  any  of  these  types  in  a  new  genus. 
Man's  physical  education  is,  therefore,  all  but  complete.  As 
far  as  his  general  structure  is  concerned,  the  work  of  nature 
seems  practically  to  be  accomplished.  His  psychological  de- 
velopment, however,  while  it  probably  involves  some  changes 
in  organic  structure,  seems .  destined  to  go  on  forever.  The 
aim  of  nature  will  -never  be  realized  for  the  reason  that  the  en- 
vironment of  an  intellectual  creature  like  man  is  necessarily 

1°  Introduction  h  la  sociologies  preface. 


1902]  Education  and  evolution  ,  71 

unstable  and  changing.  The  same  may  not  be  said  of  animals 
of  a  lower  order  living  in  a  practically  stable  environment. 
Whatever  the  conditions,  hov^ever,  or  whatever  the  organic 
being  under  consideration,  the  aim  of  nature  is  always  the 
same,  namely,  adaptation  to  environment. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  means  employed  by  nature  to  realize 
her  scholastic  aim. 

The  word  rn^ns,  as  applied  to  education,  denotes  the 
material  and  psychical  instruments  employed  in  the  production 
of  educational  results.  Unless  we  confine  ourselves  in  this  dis- 
cussion, however,  to  the  material  objects  employed,  we  shall 
cjonfuse  the  means  of  natural  education  with  its  methods.  The 
means  of  natural  education,  then,  are  the  physical  and  social 
environment.  This,  to  be  sure,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
word,  is  no  means  at  all.  Nevertheless  we  may  say  that  it  is 
by  the  impinging  forces  of  the  environment  acting  upon  the 
organism  that  nature  produces  all  her  results.  She  has  no 
school  but  the  world,  no  teacher  but  experience.  The  ab- 
surdity of  "  following  nature,"  in  any  literal  sense,  in  the  work 
of  the  school  is  here  most  conspicuously  presented. 

Turning  now  to  notice  the  method  employed  in  natural  edu- 
cation, we  find  that,  so  far  as  physical  education,  natural  and 
social,  is  concerned,  it  may  be  roughly  described  by  the  word 
selection.  Natural  and  sexual  selection  are  the  chief  methods 
by  which  nature  has  developed  all  her  various  and  wonderful 
organic  forms.  A  casual  examination  of  these  so-called 
methods,  however,  reveals  the  accommodation  of  language  in 
the  use  of  the  term  as  applied  to  the  process  of  nature.  It  has 
been  described  as  the  method  of  trial  and  error.  It  consists  in 
the  practically  unlimited  production  of  living  forms  and  the 
survival  of  the  few  which  do  not  succumb  to  the  hostile  en- 
vironment. The  seeds  of  life  are  scattered  profusely  and  indis- 
criminately. As  Professor  Ward  has  said,  ''  not  only  must  we 
conceive  the  effort  as  proceeding  from  the  center  of  a  circle, 
but  we  must  absolutely  conceive  it  as  proceeding  from  the 
center  of  a  sphere."  ^^    And  again  he  says,  "  while  every  crea- 

"  Outlines  of  sociology,  p.  254.     See  2\%o  Psychi<  factors  of  civilization,  chapter 
xxxiii. 


72  Educational  Review  [January 

tion  of  organic  nature  has  within  it  the  possibiHty  of  success, 
that  success  is  only  secured  by  the  multipUcation  of  chances/' 
The  natural  process  therefore  takes  place  without  a  method  in . 
the  proper  sense  of  the  term.  And  here  again  is  illustrated  the! 
absurdity  of  imitating  in  education  the  processes  of  nature, 
calling  selection  a  method,  however,  we  can  see  that  it  involves 
three  factors,  namely,  variation,  heredity,  and  the  struggle  for 
existence.  These  might  be  regarded  as  means,  for  by  the  vari- 
ations which,  to  indicate  our  ignorance  of  the  causes  which 
produce  them,  we  call  spontaneous,  an  opportunity  for  selec- 
tion is  afforded.  By  heredity  nature  preserves  the  stored-up 
results  of  experience,  and  by  the  struggle  for  existence  she 
eliminates  the  individuals  and  types  which  do  not  conform  to 
the  necessities  of  the  environment.  In  natural  social  educa- 
tion suggestion,  imitation,  and  repetition  play  an  important 
part.  The  method  of  development,  however,  may  still  be  de- 
scribed as  selection. 

Now,  in  the  practical  work  of  the  school,  it  is  sometimes  for- 
gotten that  the  natural  educational  process  is  going  on  just  the 
same  as  in  extra-scholastic  or  in  subhuman  experience.  ^ 
Whether  the  teacher  is  conscious  of  it  or  not,  natural  influ- 
ences are  ever  busy  in  supplementing  or  counteracting  her 
efforts.  The  education  of  nature  may  be  slow  and  impercepti- 
ble, but  it  is  absolutely  inevitable  and  continuous.  The 
methods  of  the  teacher  are  applied  during  only  a  part  of  the 
day,  but  the  methods  of  nature  are  in  perennial  operation. 
Our  schools  and  colleges  have  their  commencement  exercises, 
indicating  that  in  the  case  of  certain  individuals  their  work  is 
complete,  but  there  are  no  graduates  from  the  school  of  nature. 
Sometimes  the  great  Teacher  of  us  all  works  with  considerable 
rapidity.  The  process  of  imitative  selection,  for  instance,  is 
swift  and,  when  undirected  by  a  skillful  teacher,  may  undo  the 
results  of  artificial  methods.  Everyone  will  recall  the  memory 
of  some  teacher  whose  valuable  precepts  were  rendered  in- 
effective by  the  swift  influence  of  his  bad  example.  The- study 
of  the  aim,  means,  and  methods  of  nature  is  important,  not  that 
we  may  follow  nature,  but  that  we  may  utilize  her  forces  in 
improving  upon  her  work. 


1902]  Education  and  evolution  73 

^  Turning  now  to  the  second  great  division  of  the  educa- 
tional process,  the  artificiaLojiJ^lic,  we  may  define  it  roughly 
as  that  part  of  the  educational  process  which  is  consciously 
directed.  The  fundamental  distinction  between  this  form  of 
education  and  natural  education  is  the  employment  of  a  teleo- 
logical  element.  In  artificial  education  man  has  become  con- 
scious of  the  natural  process  and  seeks  to  control  it.  Artificial 
education  is  natural  education  directed  towards  a  preconceived 
end.  This  impliesnofonly'an  educational  aim  consciously  set 
up,  but  the  employment  of  means  and  the  devising  of  methods 
to  realize  the  aim.  Here,  however,  as  in  all  art,  the  process  is 
one  of  controlling  the  forces  of  nature.  These  are  exactly  the 
same  as  those  unconsciously  operating  in  natural  education. 
Artificial  education  is  not  an  entirely  new  and  distinct  process; 
it  is  the  old  one  under  more  or  less  conscious  direction. 

The  form  of  education  now  under  consideration  may  result 
either  from  the  conscious  effort  of  one  person  to  modify  the 
development  of  another,  or  the  conscious  effort  of,  an  indi- 
vidual to  modify  his  own  development.  In  the  former  case  the 
teleology  is  exerted  by  someone  other  than  the  being  educated. 
It  is  objective.  To  this  kind  of  education  I  have  appIiM  the 
term  altrotelic,  the  components  of  which  plainly  enough  indi- 
cate its  meaning.  In  the  latter  case,  the  teleology  is  a  function 
of  the  being  undergoing  the  educative  process.  It  is  sub- 
jective. This  form  of  education  may  be  fitly  described  by  the 
word  autotelic.  Artificial  education,  then,  may  be  subdivided 
into  objective  and  subjective  or,  as  I  prefer,  altrotelic  and 
autotelic. 

The  continuity  of  the  educational  process  is  illustrated  by  the 
gradual  shading  off  of  natural  education  into  artificial,  or  vice 
versa.  No  hard-and-fast  line  can  be  drawn  between  them. 
The  same  thing  is  true  as  regards  the  natural  and  artificial  evo- 
lution of  society.  In  attempting  to  establish  a  distinction  be- 
tween genetic  and  telic  social  progress  Professor  Ward  says, 
"  On  the  subhuman  plane  the  organic  advances  that  nature  ac- 
complishes all  take  place  according  to  the  genetic  principle. 
They  constitute  what  is  commonly  understood  as  development 
or  organic  evolution.     When  we  take  in  human  evolution  it  be- 


74  Ed7icational  Review  [January 

comes  evident  that  it  includes  something  more  than  is  involved 
in  the  evolution  of  irrational  beings.  The  moment  we  rise  to 
the  social  sphere  we  encounter  the  telic  aspect  of  the  subject. 
It  is  still  development  or  evolution,  but  a  new  principle,  radi- 
cally different  from  the  genetic,  has  now  been  introduced  and 
in  all  the  higher  forms  of  social  progress  it  assumes  the  lead- 
ing role."  ^^  This  new  factor,  to  which  Professor  Ward 
refers,  is  the  intellectual  faculty,  but,  as  it  made  its  appearance 
in  the  evolutionary  process  by  a  series  of  imperceptible  changes, 
so  it  introduced  itself  into  the  educational  process  in  the  same 
gradual  manner.  One  or  two  examples  may  serve  to  illustrate 
this  idea. 

On  the  border  line  of  artificial  education,  and  serving  as  a 
sort  of  link  between  the  natural  and  the  artificial  process,  is  the 
instinctive  education  which  appears  in  the  subhuman  world. 
As  has  been  said  before,  the  animal,  of  whatever  species,  is 
bom  like  man  with  a  latent  inherited  education,  the  effects  of 
which  are  manifested  in  the  course  of  its  individual  develop- 
ment. Certain  birds  and  beasts,  however,  add  to  this  in- 
herited education  an  education  conducted  by  the  parent  in 
much  the  same  way  as  artificial  education  is  practiced  in  human 
society.  Certain  birds,  for  instance,  may  be  observed  teach- 
ing their  young  to  fly  or  to  swim.  The  bear  teaches  her  cubs 
to  walk,  to  climb,  and  to  eat.  Similar  facts  might  be  adduced 
to  illustrate  education  in  the  animal  world.  This  education, 
however,  is  only  analagous  to,  and  not  identical  with,  the  arti- 
ficial education  of  the  home  and  the  school.  It  is  conscious, 
but  not  purposive.  Its  results  are  not  foreseen  and  intended. 
The  practice  of  it  is  due  to  natural  selection,  aided  possibly  by 
incipient  reason.  It  is  owing  to  its  resemblance  to  telic  action, 
and  to  the  possibility  of  its  being  such  at  bottom,  that  we  may 
be  warranted  in  classifying  it  under  artificial  education. 

Just  over  the  lincj  but  plainly  within  the  limits  of  the  telic 
process,  is  the  education  by  man  of  the  domestic  animals. 
Here  the  facts  of  nature,  variation,  and  heredity,  are  duly 
taken  account  of,  and  the  selective  power  which  nature  for- 
merly exercised  is  now  in  the  hands  of  man.     The  primary 

"  Outlines  of  sociology,  p.  179. 


1902  J  Education  and  evolution  75 

method  is  artificial  selection.  The  principle,  however,  is  not 
different  from  that  of  natural  selection.  The  factors  are 
the  same,  viz.,  variation,  heredity,  and  environment,  but 
man,  a  conscious  selective  agent,  has  become  a  part  of  the 
environment. 

Now,  it  may  seem  far-fetched  and  futile,  if  not  absurd,  to 
institute  a  comparison  between  the  education  of  the  school  and 
the  work  of  the  breeder,  trainer,  or  fancier.  And  yet,  in  some 
respects,  they  are  identical.  They  are  dealing  with  the  same 
forces,  their  material  is  sentient  beings,  of  different  degrees  of 
possible  development,  to  be  sure,  but  animals  just  the  same. 
Nothing  is  gained  by  forgetting  that  man,  however  noble  in 
reason,  infinite  in  faculty,  or  express  and  admirable  in  form 
or  moving,  has,  after  all,  a  biological  origin.  In  the  work  of 
the  school,  until  a  certain  stage  of  the  development  of  the  pupil 
is  reached,  there  is  the  same  unconsciousness  on  the  part  of 
the  being  instructed,  so  far  as  the  meaning  of  the  process  is 
concerned,  as  there  is  in  the  education  known  as  artificial  selec- 
tion and  training.  The  chief  difference  between  the  two 
processes  is  the  number  and  character  of  the  limitations  im- 
posed upon  the  teacher.  The  breeder  or  fancier  is  not  re- 
strained by  sentiments  of  humanity  or  by  legal  enactment  from 
rejecting  or  eliminating  the  types  whkh  he  does  not  approve. 
For  obvious  reasons  the  teacher  cannot  proceed  to  this  ex- 
tremity, no  matter  how  earnestly  he  may  occasionally  desire  to 
do  so.  The  teacher  is  handicapped  by  the  necessity  of  devel- 
f  oping  each  individual  as  far  as  possible  in  the  direction  of  the 
ideal  type.  He  cannot  control  heredity.  He  is  compelled, 
much  more  than  the  breeder,  fancier,  or  trainer,  to  subject  him- 
self to  the  natural  process.  The  selective  function  assumed  in 
artificial  selection  is,  so  far  as  the  teacher  is  concerned,  still  in 
the  hands  of  nature  and  society.  Artificial  selection  and  the 
training  of  the  lower  animals,  however,  is  only  a  stage  in  the 
educational  process.  It  lies  clearly  within  the  altrotelic 
•division. 

Proceeding  upward  thru  subhuman  education  and  artificial 
selection  and  training,  we  arrive  at  the  highest  form  of  altrotelic 
education,  namely,  the  work  of  the  school.     There  is  no  break, 


76  Educational  Review  [January 

we  repeat,  between  school  education  and  education  out  of  the 
school.  Even  if,  as  Professor  Huxley  maintained  in  his  cele- 
brated Romanes  lecture,  the  ethical  process  runs  counter  to  the 
remainder  of  the  cosmic  process,  there  is  nO'  gap  between  them. 
The  school  itself,  altho  a  means  for  improving  upon  nature,  is 
at  the  same  time  a  product  of  the  evolutionary  process.  As 
the  poet  has  said, 

"  Nature  is  made  better  by  no  mean, 
But  nature  makes  that  mean  :    over  that  art 
Which  you  say  adds  to  nature,  is  an  art 
That  nature  makes." 

Artificial  education  is,  as  the  name  implies,  an  art — an  art 
which  is  most  conspicuous  in  the  school,  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  school  is  not  an  essential  element  in  education.  It  is 
merely  an  incident  in  social  progress.  It  is  a  means  which 
society  has  constructed  for  economizing  social  energy.  Mark 
Hopkins  on  one  end  of  a  log  and  Garfield  on  the  other  represent 
formal  education  as  truly  as  any  university  or  school,  but 
society  has  not  a  sufificient  number  of  Mark  Hopkinses  to  war- 
rant it  in  delegating  them  to  individual  instruction.  Hence 
the  saving  appliances  known  as  the  school,  the  college,  and  the 
university. 

In  the  school,  education  begins  as  an  altrotelic  process.  The 
teacher  conceives  the  aim,  and  strives  with  more  or  less  intelli- 
gence of  plan  to  realize  it.  He  employs  the  available  means 
which  he  regards  as  most  effective,  and  devises  or  adopts 
methods  which  he  thinks  are  the  most  intelligent^  to  achieve 
the  end  he  has  in  view,  namely,  the  approximation  of  an  ideal 
individual  type.  Method  in  education,  as  in  every  department 
of  human  effort,  impires  an  endeavor  to  economize.  All  im- 
provement in  teaching,  the  aim  and  means  being  constant,  may 
be  roughly  represented  as  an  increase  in  economy.  Now  when, 
in  the  education  of  an  individual,  is  the  highest  degree  of 
economy  reached?  Is  it  not  when  the  pupil  himself  becomes 
conscious  of  the  educational  aim  and,  taking  his  education  into 
his  own  hands,  strives  with  consciously  adapted  effort  to 
realize  his  aim  ?  Every  teacher  must  have  observed  how  such 
a  pupil,  awakening  to  a  consciousness  of  the  meaning  and  value 


1902]  Education  and  evolution  JJ 

of  the  educative  process  in  his  own  case,  forges  ahead  of  his 
companions.  The  reason  for  his  accelerated  development  is 
obvious.  His  activities  are  now  self-ordered  for  the  attain- 
ment of  a  definite  end.  He  sees  the  goal  and  strives  for  it.  In 
the  interplay  of  his  activities  there  is  less  friction,  less  counter- 
action of  forces,  less  waste  of  time  and  energy.  He  has 
assumed  the  task  of  the  teacher,  who  now  tends  to  become  use- 
less until  finally  his  energy,  so  far  as  that  pupil  is  concerned, 
may  be  released  for  application  elsewhere.  Subjective  or  auto- 
telic  education  is,  then,  the  loftiest  stage  of  the  educational 
process.  It  represents  the  possibility  of  the  nearest  approach 
to  ideal  economy.  From  the  beginning  of  natural  education 
there  is  a  gradual  movement  towards  the  self-conscious  stage. 
Every  step  in  that  direction  is  accompanied  by  an  improvement 
in  the  matter  of  eliminating  waste.  This  thought  will  carry  a 
wider  significance  when  we  come  to  consider  education  as  a 
factor  in  social  transformation. 

To  sum  up,  the  general  educational  process  may  be  divided 
into  natural  education  and  artificial  education.  Natural  edu- 
cation falls  into  the  divisions  physical  and  social.  Artificial 
education  is  merely  a  continuation,  an  extension,  an  accelera- 
tion of  the  natural  process.  Its  distinguishing  element  is  the 
telic  or  intellectual  factor  applied  to  the  achievement  of  educa- 
tional ends.  It  is  purposive.  It  falls  into  altrotelic  education, 
or  that  which  is  directed  by  others  than  the  being  educated,  and 
autotelic,  or  that  which  is  self-directed.  These  divisions,  with 
their  respective  aim,  means,  and  methods,  always  remembering 
that  these  words  are  used  figuratively  with  respect  to  natural 
education,  may  be  shown  by  the  analysis  on  page  78. 

If  the  foregoing  description  and  analysis  of  the  process  of 
individual  development  are  warranted  by  the  facts,  and  arti- 
ficial education  is  the  continuation,  extension,  direction  and  ac- 
celeration of  a  process  already  begun,  certain  implications  in 
regard  to  educational  theory  may  be  easily  discerned. 

In  the  first  place,  the  conscious  attempt  to  educate  an  indi- 
vidual is  an  interference  with  the  process  of  nature.  It  is  an 
attempt  to  direct  or  to  control  forces  resident  in  the  individual 
and  his  environment.     It  is,  therefore,  a  negation'- of  laissez- 


78 


Educational  Review 


[January 


EDUCATION    OF   THE 
INDIVIDUAL 


Natural  or  Genetic. 
Physical 


Social , 


Artificial  or  Telic, 


Altrotelic. 


Autotelic. 


Adaptation 


Adaptation  to 
physical  en 
vironment 


Adaptation  to 
social  en 
vironment 


Adaptation 
(ideal) 


Production  of 
ideal  indi- 
vidual type 


Self  -  realiza 
tion  of  ideal 
individual 
type 


Organism  and 
environ- 
ment 

Organism  and 
physical  en- 
vironment 


Organism  and 
social  en- 
vironment 


Organism  and 
artificial  en- 
vironment 


As  above 
(school 
Ijooks,  ap 
pa  r  a t  u  s 
etc.) 

As  above 


ILLUS- 
TRATION 


Selection 


Natural       se- 
lection  (in 
volving  va 
riation,   he 
redity,    and 
struggle  for 
existence) 
Natuial     and 
social  selec- 
tion(involv 
ing  sugges- 
tion, imita 
tion,  repeti 
tion,       and 
choice) 
Artificial    se 
lection  and 
m  od  i  fica 
tion   of  the 
environ- 
ment 
Telic   devices 
for    econo- 
mizing time 
and  energy 


Evolution    of 
animal 
forms 


Theeducation 
of  social  ex- 
perience 


As  above 
with  con- 
scious inhi- 
bition and 
choice 


Animal  edu- 
cation. 
Breeding 
and  training 
"School- 
ing "     . 

Self-conscious 
and  self-de- 
ter  m  ined 
education 


faire,  so  far  as  individual  development  is  concerned.  What- 
ever the  cry,  "  back  to  nature,"  may  mean  as  applied  to  educa- 
tion, it  should  not  be  interpreted  as  a  demand  to  approximate 
the  natural  process  in  the  work  of  the  school.  Everything 
that  is  done  in  artificial  education  is  a  ''  meddling- "  with 
natural  processes.  Against  such  action  in  itself  no  valid  ob- 
jection can  be  raised.  It  is  only  with  reference  to  unwise 
1' 'Torts  to  control  or  direct  the  forces  of  individual  education 
that  such  procedure  may  be  properly  condemned.  The  bun- 
gling teacher,  like  the  bungling  legislator,  may  do  more  harm 
than  good,  but  intelligence  may  economize  in  the  field  of  educa- 
tion as  in  the  field  of  politics.     The  perfection  of  education  is 


1902]  EdMcation  and  evolution  79 

in  bringing  under  the  control  of  intelligence  every  factor  en- 
gaged in  the  process,  and  the  direction  of  each  toward  the  com- 
mon end  of  producing  the  highest  conceivable  individual  and 
social  type. 

In  the  second  place,  and  implied  by  what  has  just  been  said, 
the  teacher  should  have  at  least  a  general  acquaintance  with  the 
evolutionary  process  in  which  he  is  a  factor.  The  unvarying 
laws  of  individual  and  social  development  lie  at  the  basis  of  his 
work.  Without  a  knowledge  of  these  laws,  he  is  like  a  would- 
be  inventor  who  does  not  understand  the  material  with  which 
he  deals  or  the  forces  he  tries  to  utilize.  He  undertakes  the 
impossible,  aims  at  an  unattainable  goal,  grows  enthusiastic 
over  irrational  methods,  and  widely  miscalculates  educational 
values.  In  short,  he  is  an  empiricist  and  illustrates  the  ex- 
travagances and  prodigality  of  empiricism  wherever  it  is  prac- 
ticed. Every  teacher,  then,  should  have  a  general  course  on 
evolution,  and  the  school  in  which  teachers  are  trained  for  their 
work  should  provide  and  prescribe  such  a  course.  *'  Grant," 
says  Herbert  Spencer,  "  that  the  phenomena  of  intelligence  con- 
form to  laws;  grant  that  the  evolution  of  intelligence  in  a 
child  also  conforms  to  laws;  and  it  follows  inevitably  that  edu- 
cation cannot  be  rightly  guided  without  a  knowledge  of  those 
laws.  To  suppose  you  can  regulate  the  process  of  forming  and  / 
accumulating  ideas  without  understanding  the  process  is  ab- 
surd." "'  We  have  shown,  however,  that  education  is  not 
only  the  process  of  ''  forming  and  accumulating  ideas,"  but  is 
essentially  a  process  of  evolution.  The  whole  process,  there- 
fore demands  primary  consideration  by  all  those  who  would 
labor  in  the  field  of  education. 

It  may  be  argued  also  that,  in  addition  tO'  a  general  knowl- 
edge of  evolution,  the  teacher  should  cultivate  as  a  pastime,  if 
not  for  its  immediate  practical  utility,  some  branch  of  natural 
science.  No  other  pursuit  will  so  thoroly  familiarize  him  with 
natural  processes.  By  no  other  study  can  he  so  effectively  cul- 
tivate the  scientific  habit  of  mind,  which  is  indispensable  to 
successful  teaching.  It  will  reveal  to  him  the  intimate  rela- 
tion between  his  art  and  all  other  arts;  that  they  all  proceed  on 

'^Quoted  by  S.  de  Brath  in   The  foundations  of  success,  p.  20. 


8o  Educational  Review 

the  same  assumption,  namely,  universality  of  law  and  the  con- 
stancy of  the  order  of  nature. 

Finally,  in  considering  the  individual  as  '*  the  '  last  inheritor 
and  the  last  result '  of  all  the  conditions  that  have  affected  a 
line  of  ancestry  which  goes  back  many  million  years  to  the  time 
when  life  first  appeared  on  earth,"  and  his  education,  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  totality  of  influences  exerted  upon  him,  we  have 
been  viewing  education  as  a  process  rather  than  a  means.  The 
education  of  the  schools,  however,  is  both  process  and  means, 
a  process  of  individual  development  and  a  means  of  social  de- 
velopment. From  the  standpoint  of  social  evolution  its  func- 
tion as  a  social  means  demands  primary  consideration. 

Ira   W.   Howerth 

University  of  Chicago 


UNlvra^'-^i 


V    (.».'   CALlFOrN^ 


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